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Firms, Not Brokers, Faulted on Auction-Rates

Despite the anger harbored by Main Street investors toward brokers who sold them auction-rate securities, some of the people trying to protect consumers say individual brokers may not be to blame.

Instead, some regulators and investors' lawyers argue, brokerage firms are responsible. The firms had a bird's-eye view of the now-frozen auction-rate securities market and should have foreseen the failure, they believe.